First body found after Tibet landslide

Updated
Sat Mar 30 23:15:22 EST 2013

Photo

Rescuers search for survivors at the site of a landslide in a mining area in Maizhokunggar County, Tibet Autonomous Region on March 30, 2013. Rescuers found the first body nearly 36 hours after a massive landslide buried 83 workers in southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, Xinhua News Agency reported.

Reuters: China Daily

Rescue workers have found the first body almost 36 hours after a massive landslide in Tibet buried 83 mine workers at their camp.

Chinese state media has reported that the body was found at around 5:35PM on Saturday.

The huge search and rescue operation has failed to locate any survivors of the landslide that buried the workers under 2 million cubic metres of earth.

Search teams using sniffer dogs and radar combed the mountainside throughout the night after a three-kilometre section of land buried a copper mine workers' camp in Maizhokunggar county, east of Tibetan capital Lhasa.

State broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV) showed dozens of bulldozers shifting earth as others headed to the disaster area in Tibet.

The Tencent news website said the harsh environment and low oxygen were hampering the search, adding that 15 dog teams and 15 teams using radar monitoring equipment were accompanying 200 bulldozers and heavy lifting vehicles.

"The oxygen content is very low, and the terrain is very difficult, but the rescue forces are arriving at the scene in a steady stream," the report said.

The operation was hampered by the sheer weight of soil that came crashing down the mountainside.

"Much of the rescue relies on machines digging through the soil given the weight of the landslide," said a report by China National Radio news website.

The victims of the disaster worked for a subsidiary of the China National Gold Group Corporation (CNGG), a state-owned company and the nation's biggest gold miner by output.

The landslide came on the same day as a gas explosion in a north-east China coal mine which killed 28 people.